Jeremias 31:22
How long wilt thou be dissolute in deliciousness, O wandering daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth: A WOMAN SHALL COMPASS A MAN.
Open Jeremias 31:22 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Usquequo deliciis dissolveris, filia vaga ? quia creavit Dominus novum super terram : femina circumdabit virum.
- Septuagint (Swete) shown from Jeremias 38:22
- ἕως πότε ἀποστρέψεις, θυγάτηρ ἠτιμωμένη; ὅτι ἔκτισεν Κύριος σωτηρίαν εἰς καταφύτευσιν καινήν, ἐν σωτηρίᾳ περιελεύσονται ἄνθρωποι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- עַד מָתַי֙ תִּתְחַמָּקִ֔ין הַבַּ֖ת הַשּֽׁוֹבֵבָ֑ה כִּֽי בָרָ֨א יְהוָ֤ה חֲדָשָׁה֙ בָּאָ֔רֶץ נְקֵבָ֖ה תְּס֥וֹבֵֽב גָּֽבֶר
Haydock's commentary
Daughter. Bury thy dead, and delay thy return no longer. The Israelites did not soon make use of the leave granted by Cyrus. (Calmet)
Man. Hebrew, "a hero." (Tirinus)
The fathers generally explain this of the incarnation. (Calmet)
Christ had the perfect use of reason in the virgin's womb. (Haydock)
He was the brightness of his Father's glory, Hebrew i. 3. Even some ancient Jews apply this to the Messias. (Galatin. vii. 14.) But the moderns understand that women would offer themselves in marriage; the times would be so happy. This was not so unusual in countries where polygamy prevailed, Ruth iii. 9., Isaias iv. 1., and Canticle of Canticles viii. 1. (Calmet)
Hence this is hardly the meaning; for God promises something new. (Haydock)
"The Lord hath created a new thing in a woman." (Aquila)
Symmachus agrees nearly with the Septuagint, "because the Lord has created thee by salvation a new plantation. Men shall go about in thy salvation." This "might be explained, if it were not sacrilegious to argue respecting God's word by human sense," says St. Jerome; though this censure of "the Vulgate" (Septuagint) seems rather harsh. He complains here of his copy. Theodoret explains it of the apostles going through the world to spread the gospel. (Haydock)
Behold whence thy happiness must come, (Menochius) O thou who hast so long proved faithless, going astray after many lovers. (Haydock)
Christ, in his mother's womb, was in stature small, but a perfect man (Worthington) in the use of reason, &c. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Athanasius Statement of Faith. (Expositio Fidei.), Expositio Fidei. (Statement of Faith.)
3. He is then by nature an Offspring, perfect from the Perfect, begotten before all the hills ( Prov. viii. 25 ), that is before every rational and intelligent essence, as Paul also in another place calls Him ‘first-born of all creation’ ( Col. i. 15 ). But by calling Him First-born, He shews that He is not a Creature, but Offspring of the Father. For it would be inconsistent with His deity for Him to be called a creature. For all things were created by the Father through the Son, but the Son alone was eternally begotten from the Father, whence God the Word is ‘first-born of all creation,’ unchangeable from unchangeable. However, the body which He wore for our sakes is a creature: concerning which Jeremiah says, according to the edition of the seventy translators ( Jer. xxxi. …
St Jerome Against Jovinianus, Book I
32. Isaiah tells of the mystery of our faith and hope:“Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” I know that the Jews are accustomed to meet us with the objection that in Hebrew the word Almah does not mean a virgin, but a young woman. And, to speak truth, a virgin is properly called Bethulah, but a young woman, or a girl, is not Almah , but Naarah! What then is the meaning of Almah? A hidden virgin, that is, not merely virgin, but a virgin and something more, because not every virgin is hidden, shut off from the occasional sight of men. …
St Ephrem the Syrian Ephraim Syrus: Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh, Hymn III
Glory to that Voice Which became Body, and to the Word of the High One Which became Flesh! Hear Him also, O ears, and see Him, O eyes, and feel Him, O hands, and eat Him, O mouth! Ye members and senses give praise unto Him, that came and quickened the whole body! Mary bare the silent Babe, while in Him were hidden all tongues! Joseph bare Him, and in Him was hidden a nature more ancient than aught that is old! The High One became as a little child, and in Him was hidden a treasure of wisdom sufficing for all! Though Most High, yet He sucked the milk of Mary, and of His goodness all creatures suck! He is the Breast of Life, and the Breath of Life; the dead suck from His life and revive. Without the breath of the air no man lives, without the Might of the Son no man subsists. On His living breath that quickeneth all, depend the spirits that are above and that are beneath. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).